Stay Strong
by Pervy-Soulmetal-Alchemist
Summary: "She stood up with the bag in her arms and walked into the shadows on the alley. The lightning illuminated her silhouette every so often, and the rain began to wash away all the blood on the ground, just like her thoughts." Excerpt from Ch 2. SoMa fic that is cowritten with symmetryobsession8. Rated T for violence, gore, and some fluff.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey gaiz, just your everyday SoMa fanfic. Except for the part that I'm writing this with my bestie ****_symmetryobsession8. _****We both are uploading the same stories just because we each want our own credit. Well, that doesn't make much sense, but who really cares? Meh, onto the story.**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Soul Eater or it's characters (Except for my few OC's in the later chapters).**

Soul and Maka were currently on their way to the DWMA. Maka was on the back of Soul's bike hugging his waist as he sped off. Her long black jacket was flowing much like a flag as her pigtails flopped around from the wind. Slowly, she laid her head on Soul's back and closed her eyes. She breathed in deep from her nose. The smell of leather from his jacket and oil from his bike filled her nostrils. Maka smiled. She got lost in her thoughts when...

"Maka…can you loosen your grip…I can't breathe…" Soul gasped.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Maka instantly lessened her grip around Soul's waist and lifted her head only to get blinded by the sun's rays. "Damn, the sun is bright today."

"Really? I haven't noticed." He looked up. The sun was laughing like it always does, and didn't seem all that bright today. There were even a few clouds hovering around it. "Maybe it was just the angle of the rays in your eyes."

"Yeah maybe…"

The blonde's eyes angled down towards the ground. The bricks went by at a speed so fast they seemed invisible. She again put her head back on Soul's back and blushed. Soul felt the warmth from her body and relaxed his muscles a bit, causing the bike's speed to slow down. He felt calm and collected, and he could feel his meister's wavelength. It was steady, and actually a bit more relaxed than usual.

The DWMA started to come in view. Flames on the candles licked the partly-cloudy sky in a hypnotic way. The bright red cones shot out of the skull's eyes and into the sky in an intimidating stance. The towers on the side loomed over the city, as if they were watchtowers instead of balconies. The academy itself was a landmark, and Kid was right. Its symmetry was absolutely flawless.

A few minutes later, Soul skid the bike to a stop and turned off the engine. The force of the stop caused Maka to fly backwards off the bike and onto the ground with a loud THUD!

"Oh shit Maka! Are you okay?" Soul panicked.

"Unngh, I'm fine…but why did you have to do that?"

"Heh, you know me, had to make a cool entrance, tha-"

"MAKA-CHOP!" The hardcover book Maka always seems to have with her came slamming down on Soul's head. He came down on the ground face-first, and a little bit of blood spurted out of the dent in his head. "That's how it felt to fall on the ground that hard."

They walked up the stairs. Soul was fixing the dent in his hair, and Maka was holding the book to her chest. She giggled when she looked over at Soul. He was caressing the spot where she had currently hit him. He turned his head and put his hands in his jacket pockets and continued to walk up the steps and into doors of the academy. The whole way they walked in sync.

"Hey Maka. Hey Soul."

They turned their attention to see Tsubaki and Black*Star standing there waving at them. Soul and Black*Star high five, then Kid, Patty, and Liz walk up.

"Heyyy!" Patty giggles

While the group of friends chatted, Maka had a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. She looked down and got lost in her thoughts again.

"Maka?" She looked up and instantly got lost in those crimson eyes.

"Huh?" She asked confused

"You ok? You've been pretty quiet."

"Oh…Yeah I'm fine."

Soul could tell by his meister's soul wavelength that she wasn't okay, but he decided to drop it 'till later. They walked into the Crescent Moon classroom and took their seats.

About 40 minutes into class, the feeling in Maka's stomach grew worse. She stood up and sprinted out of the room clutching her stomach and a hand over her mouth. She went straight to one of the bathrooms, not caring what one it was and went to the first stall. Quickly, she knelt in front of the toilet and threw up in it. The blonde took a deep breath before another round came up. Maka looked into the water and saw little red marks in the vomit. She thought nothing of it, then looked at it again to see it spreading

_Is that…my blood?_ She thought.

"Knock, knock." She turned to see Soul standing at the open door of the stall.

"What are you doing here? Wait this is the GIRLS bathroom! WHY are you in here?!" She screams, trying to cover her own puke.

He chuckled. "You accidentally ran into the guy's bathroom."

"What? Really?!" Maka started to panic, and it was getting more difficult to keep Soul from seeing her vomit.

Concerned, Soul asked," Are you alright? I could only find you from hearing you scream. Only you could scream that loud anyways."

"Yeah, everything's fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah Soul, I'm fine." Soul could tell Maka was getting irritated.

"Alright, alright. C'mon, let's get back to class." Soul held his hand out, signaling for her to go first. Maka flushed the toilet and ran out of the stall, trying to get out of the guy's bathroom before anyone else noticed. Taking his chance, Soul peered in to the stall and noticed the blood in the "vomit-water" before it went down.

I knew she wasn't ok. You don't just puke up blood.

"Hey, you coming?" Her innocent voice called out from the hallway.

"Yeah, in a sec," Stretching, he walked out of the bathroom and met up with Maka outside the door. Together, they walked back to class.

* * *

"Why don't you rest for a bit Maka? You look stressed."

Maka took out her pigtails and fell back onto the couch, then looked at Soul with an irritated face.

"Why do you even care? You're usually the one to be lazy after school."

"Hey, I'm just looking out for ya! You weren't doing so good earlier, so I tho-"

"I told you I was fine, Soul! I never asked for your help!"

"Nyah?" Blair walked into the apartment, just to be confused to come home seeing them argue this early. She figured they didn't hear the door open over their shouting, because they didn't notice her until she made her way to the chair next to the couch.

"I am so done with this crap!" Maka stood up and angrily stomped out of the living room and into her room. She slammed the door shut so hard that the room actually rattled a bit.

Soul rolled his eyes. "What's with her today? Oh, hey Blair."

"Nyah?" Blair was a bit scared of their last fight. It was the worst one they've had since the special lessons Stein gave them. So she decided to head out to Chupacabra's to see if she could work overtime, just to leave the two alone for a while.

About an hour later, Maka finally came out of her room. But she didn't look so good. Her skin was really pale, almost white. Her jade eyes seem to have lost color, and she was walking slowly.

"Oh hey, just in time. I figured you weren't gonna come out for a while, so I decided to make dinner for tonight." He brought Maka a bowl of warm Ramen. "I was too lazy to cook anything else, so this will have to do." He looked at her for a moment, and then walked back into the kitchen.

_ Something is definitely not right with her today,_ Soul thought. First she puked up blood, then she got angry out of nowhere, and now she looks almost dead.

When Soul walked back into the room, she was eating, so he thought maybe it was just a case of food poisoning. But to Maka, that wasn't the case. While she was eating, her eyes were darting around the room, like they were following something. Every once in a while she'd laugh a jocular laugh, almost like a witch's cackle. It was quiet, so Soul didn't hear it at first, until she just broke out laughing.

"Ehehehe…Eheha…..Ahahaha….AHAHAHAHAHA!" The bowl she was holding fell out of her hands to the ground. Ramen spilled everywhere, but thankfully, the bowl didn't break. Soul ran into the room to find her on her side laughing as hard as she could.

"Maka?! Maka, what's so funny?! What's happening!?" Soul grabbed her shoulders and started shaking her. "MAKA! GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF!"

"Maka-CHOP!" Thwack! That same book from earlier came down on Soul's head once again. "Why were you shaking me so hard?!"

"Unngh….you were laughing maniacally…..I had to do something…." Soul replied weakly.

"I was…laughing…?" Maka looked around for a moment, and stood back up. She looked a lot better than she did earlier. Almost as if nothing was ever wrong. She stretches, and begins walking back to her room while yawning. "Ahhh…..I'm gotta go to bed now."

Soul stands back up, rubbing the part of his head where Maka had chopped him. "Why so early? It's only 7."

"Because I had a long and stressful day, and I don't want to be the same way tomorrow." And with that, she walked into her room and shut the door.

Soul just stood there for a moment. "Man, sometimes I don't get her." He proceeded to clean up the mess she made and then went to his room himself. "Night Maka!"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Yays, Chapter 2 is up guys! *starts doing the wavy-arms thing* WOOOOOOOOO! Also, I wub you all for reading this fic, it makes me so happy ;v; Also, this chapter is a bit graphic in the "gore" section. Just a warning. Wub you all ;w; *gives everyone a big hug***

**Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN SOUL EATER OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS. But I do own Chris and Chrome, k?**

_ Maka looked up into the night sky. Blood was dripping from the moon's teeth. She saw one coming right for her she started to run. The drops of blood started to drop faster and faster. Maka started to run, trying to dodge all the blood drops. She looked down and noticed the blood started to flood the streets, then looked ahead only to see a wall. The panicking meister went up to it and learned her back against it. The walls started to close in and the blood came up to her ankles. All of the sudden a roof appeared and started to come down on her too. She looked down and realized that the blood was already to her hips. She started to take deep breaths. __**What do I do?**__ Instantly, she pushed herself of the wall and swam through the blood. Another wall rose up through the river of blood and then she turned around only to find herself trapped. The walls came closer and closer. A red figure comes up from the blood. It looked kind of like a mannequin. It came up to her and pulled her under. After struggling for a while, she just gave up and drowns._

_ When Maka opened her eyes, she was standing in long grass and flowers. Looking down at her appearance, she sees that she's wearing a white sun dress. The blonde stood up and saw that she was in a country field that held yellow roses and tall grass. The wood line wasn't far away. Turning her head, she saw Soul standing on the other side. He smiled at her showing his pointy teeth, and of course Maka smiled back. Her legs started to walk toward him, and she got faster and faster until she was jogging. No matter how fast she went, he kept getting further and further away. Maka started to run as fast as she could when she saw Asura sneak up behind him._

_ "SOUL!" she screams. He just stands in the exact same spot just staring at her. She pushed herself to keep going but she couldn't get near him. Asura lifted up his hand and stuck it right through Soul's stomach. He spit up some blood as he screamed. Tears formed in Maka's eyes and Asura disappeared as she ran up to Soul's-now dead-body. She sat his head on her lap and cried. Her tears landed on his face, washing away some of the blood._

_ Asura reappeared behind Maka. She couldn't hear him over her sobs. A pale hand came up to her cheek and forced her to turn her head. Once she saw his face she instantly lost her breath. His hand that was covered in Souls blood came up and went straight through her stomach as well._

_"AUUUGGGGHHHHH!"_

Maka shot up from her bed breathing heavy. She looked around and realized it was just a dream. She sighed and wiped some of the sweat off her forehead. After lying back down, Maka stared at the ceiling for a while. Then she finally looked over at the clock on her nightstand and saw that it was 6 AM and looked out the window just to see the sun rising. She swung her legs over the side of her bed and walked over to her dresser to bring out her usual attire. After she got dressed, Maka left her room and walked to the living room to see saw Soul sitting on the couch with his arms behind his head and his feet up on the coffee table.

"Finally. Can you make some breakfast now?" he says relieved, even though it sounded more like a demand than a question. Maka sighed and walked into the kitchen with Soul right behind her.

"Hey Maka, you alright?"

"Huh? Oh…yeah." She says almost below a whisper. Soul of course didn't believe her. Of course she is his meister but she is also his best friend and secret crush. But he decided to drop it since he doesn't want to make her stressed. And like she said, she had a stressful day yesterday.

She took the eggs out of the fridge and put them on the counter, along with the bread and bacon. Once she cracked the eggs into the pan she just stared down at them. _That was such a weird dream last night. But it seemed so real. What if something actually hap-NO! I won't even think about that._

"MAKA!" Soul screams.

"Hm?" She turns her head to him and smelt something burning. Her head came back to the eggs to notice that she overcooked them.

"Way to go Maka, you burnt the eggs!" She turns around and glares at Soul, then reaches for the book that was conveniently on the counter. "Whoa Maka. No need for that. I was just joking." She retracts her hand and Soul for the first time this morning gets a look at her face; she was still pale and he could tell something was on her mind.

"Let's just get to school." Maka said tearing away from his gaze.

"You sure you don't wanna stay home? You look sorta pale."

"Soul I'm fine! How many times do I have to tell you?!"

When Maka yelled that she felt that feeling in her stomach return. She ran into the bathroom and threw up again; she leaned against the bathtub and took a deep breath. Soul walked up and leaned against the door frame with his ankles and his arms crossed.

"See Maka? You aren't okay. Don't worry. I'll tell Stein-sensei and the others that you're sick." He said sympathetically.

"Thanks Soul, you're the best."

"Took you long enough to realize it." And before she could harm him in any way he ran out of the apartment with a loud "Later Maka!"

She got up and went to her room and changed into her green and yellow striped pajamas and walked back into the living room and lied down on the couch. After a while, she realized that she was getting hungry. So she went into the kitchen to get a snack. After going through all the cabinets, Maka realized that they didn't have any food (or at least what Maka was in the mood for). She sighed, and then went back to her room to change back into her clothes and went to the supermarket.

This day was the kind of day that could depress you easily. The sky was layered with numerous clouds, and the air was thick, yet not as hot as it may sound. _I hope it doesn't rain. This day doesn't need to be any gloomier than it is. _Maka was about to round the corner when something caught her eye. _This place….I've been on this street a thousand times, how could it seem so different? _Then it hit her harder than her Maka-chops. _This place! It was in my dream…where I drowned in the blood…. _Maka didn't like the situation, so she decided to take a different path to the store.

The paranoid meister turned right and walked down an alley. Normally, people wouldn't walk through the alleys of Death City. All the rumors of people getting mugged and disappearances were enough to keep people out of them. But Maka never believed them. She had walked through the alleys here more than once, and she never saw anything out of the ordinary. Just garbage cans and the occasional rat scurrying away from her feet, nothing else really. She wasn't scared, _or was she?_

As she walked through the wide alley, thunder boomed in the distance. _Not good, I should really get to the store before it rains._ Maka felt a soul nearby. It was a familiar soul, a soul of someone she knew, but she couldn't quite tell who it was.

"Hey blondie, whatchya doin' in this alley?" The voice was definitely Chris's. Chris is another student at the academy she knew. His features included spikey black hair with a large area of white his left side, the blue earing on his right ear, blood red irises, and his pointed teeth. He was a weapon-machete to be exact- and was known for his delinquent acts. He almost always skipped class, definitely was a player, and was sometimes a complete asshole. But he did have a soft side. Everyone knew he loved ponies, and was made fun of it too, especially when he wears his dark gray hoodie with the ears on it.

"Hey Maka, I'm talking to ya. Aren't you listening?"

"Yeah Chris. Now please shut the fuck up, I've got to get to the store."

"Whoa, getting a little feisty there, eh? And here I thought you were a late bloomer."

"What'd you say, asshole?!" She turned to face him in the eyes. But when she looked in them, she thought of Soul. Chris's red eyes almost matched Soul's, except for the fact that Chris had a brighter shade of red. _Ugh, stay focused Maka. Pay attention to the problem at hand. _The meister shook her head and quickly grabbed him by the collar of his hoodie. "Say it again pony-boy, I _dare_ you."

And just as she said that, his meister partner came right out of a nearby door holding a paper bag of food. Chris's meister's name is Chrome. She's some type of cat-girl, like Blair. But she can't use magic, and definitely isn't the type of "cat-girl" that likes to flirt with everyone. She also had blood-red eyes with large, dark red pupils. Chrome's hair was a perfect gold, and her silver ears had points at the tips. She always wore a silver tank that was a bit revealing, and short, gold shorts. Her tail was sharp like a blade, and people always wonder why she was a meister and not a weapon.

"Hey, what's going on here?! Maka, what are you doing to Chris?!" She cried as she dropped the bag she was holding.

Maka looked at Chrome with an irritated face. Then she let go of Chris's collar and got in her face. Though Chrome was a lot taller than Maka, she was a bit intimidated by the shorty. "Your partner here was being an asshole, that's what!"

"Hey, I don't need you in my face too Maka!"

Maka instantly snapped. She threw a punch into her left cheek and another in the stomach, causing Chrome to fall to the ground, spitting up some blood.

"Hey!" Chris transformed his right hand into the tip of his blade and swiped it at Maka. He cut her right shoulder, but not too deep. He pulled his blade back and began jabbing at her, but Maka was dodging them easily. Chris's movements were always slow, so it wasn't hard to dodge and attack from him. Maka took the chance when Chris pulled back for another jab to use her legs to swipe him off his feet. Her legs swung under his feet, bringing him to the ground face-first.

"Ah, what the hell?!" Chris shouted.

_SMASH! _Maka broke a nearby glass bottle and held it like a knife. "I know a fun game Chris. I think you may like it. Now let's have some fun!" Her smile was like the one she had when she went insane from the black blood inside of her.

"AUUUGGHHHH!" Chris screamed in pain as Maka shoved the broken bottle into his right shoulder. She twisted it around while shoving it in deeper into his arm. Blood was spilling out of his arm, and Chris couldn't fight back. His blade arm was crippled by the insane girl. He was helpless now. There was nothing he could do.

Maka yanked the bottle out of his shoulder. "Ehehehe, just seeing you in pain makes me laugh. So make me laugh some more!" She rolled him over onto his back and stabbed him in the stomach. Blood poured out of him like a river.

"AAAAUUUGGGHHHH! STOP IT! IT HURTS!"

"Why would I? This is just getting fun!" The blood from his stomach spurted out on her face, making her look more insane than ever. She again twisted the bottle left and right until she was blasted by a powerful force.

"Get away from him, whoever you are!" Chrome had just shot the insane 13-year-old with her soul wavelength. Since she was already weak from the few blows she got from Maka earlier, the force wasn't that great. But it was just enough to blow her away.

"Chris, are you okay?!"

"Damn right I'm not…..I'm bleeding from the stomach right now Chrome…you can be so stupid…." Chrome was panicking worse than ever. She didn't know what to do. But then she heard Maka laughing in front of her. She was still holding the bottle from earlier.

"Oh, so you want a turn too, huh? Alright, I guess I can be generous. Don't worry, it'll be quick." She started laughing maniacally again, and then ran towards Chrome with the bottle held high above her head.

The silver and gold cat managed to dodge the attack for a moment, but Maka wasn't going to let her get away. The pigtailed blonde swung at her again, and this time she didn't miss. The bottle stuck right into her side. Blood started to leak out in little bursts, and Chrome was easily spitting up more blood. The cat fell on her side and began to cry. She was never that strong as a meister, and she couldn't take the pain much longer.

"Ngggghhhh…..Maka…." She spoke weakly. "Maka….what's happened to you….?"

"What? Me?" Maka laughed some more. "You've got to be kidding, I'm still me. I'm just different, that's all. Now, why don't we finish our game? Maka slowly walked up to Chris, who was just barely alive. He opened his eyes and saw the bottle come down onto is face. There was no time to scream or anything. He was dead, just like that. Soon after Maka removed the bottle from his head, a gray soul rose out of his body and hovered just a couple feet above it. Now Maka's attention fixed on the partially-dead cat on the ground.

"No…please…" Chrome whispered.

But it was too late. The bottle had already gone through the side of her skull, killing her instantly. Her silver soul soon came out of her body and hovered above it. Thunder boomed again, and this time it was a lot closer. It began to sprinkle a bit, but that didn't bother Maka at this time.

"Ehehehehe, I think we had fun today. Too bad we won't be doing it again anytime soon." After a few moments of observing what she'd done, she walked over to the bag Chrome had dropped. Surprisingly, the contents haven't spilled out of the bag. The rain began to fall down harder. Maka ignored the rain and peered into the bag. A loaf of bread and some fruits were inside of it. "Oh well, I guess this will have to do for tonight." She stood up with the bag in her arms and walked into the shadows on the alley. The lightning illuminated her silhouette every so often, and the rain began to wash away all the blood on the ground, just like her thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Hey guys, sorry it took so long, event though it was a week XD THATS TOO LONG *flips table* But anyways, MAKA KILLED PEOPLE LAST TIME. THAT MEANS SOMETHING IS WRONG. BUT WE WON'T SPEED UP THE STORY JUST TO FIND OUT. HAHA, WE'RE EVIL, JUST FOR YOU GUYS *starts maniacally laughing***

**Anyways, thank you guys so much for the reviews and stuff! We really appreciate it! Now, so responses to the reviews ^-^**

**Artistic-Resonance: ****_Yup, I'm admin Spirit ^-^ And thanks for the compliments and follows ;w; We really appreciate them! And yuss, my main pic is full of feelz, wish something like that would've actually happened in the series if you ask me._**

**Also, I am not copying this story. Like I said in the first chapter, this story is cowritten with **_symmetryobsession8 _**ANd we both agreed on posting the story on our own accounts for whatever random reason whatsoever. Idk. But I AM NOT COPYING.**

**Alright, I've held you all long enough, to the story! (after the disclaimer, sorry!)**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Soul Eater. All rights to Atsushi Ohkubo. Except for Chrome and Chris. They belong to me, GOT THAT?! XD Onto the story for real now!**

* * *

Maka walked into the apartment and set the paper bag on the counter. She looked down and saw blood stains on her clothes and a cut on her shoulder. _How'd those get there? _ Maka walked into her room and grabbed some new clothes. She took off her shirt and looked at the cut on her shoulder. The clueless meister turned on the water and winced from splashing some of it on the cut, and then washed her face off. After that, she dried it off and put on a new set of clothes. Then she walked out of the bathroom and instantly put the dirty clothes in the washer.

After that, Maka sat down on the couch. Unsure about what was on her clothes, Maka tried to think about what it could've been. But she was tired from the walk to and from the market. Instead, she grabbed her book and started to flip through the pages. After about 15 minutes, Maka lied down and slowly, closed her eyes, and fell asleep.

* * *

Soul walked into the apartment to see Maka lying on the couch with a book on her stomach. He shook his head and chuckled, then walked into the kitchen. A brown bag on the counter caught his eye, so he peeked inside it and saw some food. Soul grabbed an apple and took a bite out of it, then started to leave the room. But then he stopped dead in his tracks, only to turn on his heels and see that the bottom corner was soaked in a red liquid. _What happened? _

_Well only one way to find out._ Soul walked into the living room with the paper bag in hand. "Maka. Hey Maka." He whispered shaking her a little. She slowly opened her jade eyes.

"Whaaaaaaaat?" She said groggily.

"Well… Umm… I was just wondering what happened," He said holding the bag up.

She completely ignored his question and went back to sleep. _I'll just let her sleep._ He walked back into the kitchen and put the groceries away then went to his room and started to do his homework. Slamming his pencil down, he gave up and went back out to the living room. He saw Maka wasn't on the couch anymore and figured that she just went to her room to nap. He turned on the TV and the news came on. The albino was about to change it when something caught his attention.

_"Breaking News: Today there was a murder here in Death City just by Fresh Goods Market. Two kids about the ages of 16 and 17. Their names were Chris Ryne and Chrome; they both went to school at the DWMA. The weapon used in the murder seemed was a broken bottle. And based on the size of the cuts…" _Soul lost interest in the television and decided to inspect the bag once more.

He walked into the kitchen and dug through the garbage trying to find that damn bag. Just as he suspected, the bag was from Fresh Goods Market. At first the weapon was skeptical, but a thought occurred to him. _Maka would never do something like that; it must be some juice or something on the bag._ He just shrugged and threw it away again. _Well…I'm gonna go ask her if she is gonna make dinner._ Soul walked up to her door and saw it open a crack. _Must be sleeping again. Damn, that's all she's done all day._ He poked his head in.

"Hey Maka you gonna make din-" Soul's eyes widened. "AAAAAAHHHHHH!" He saw that she was changing her clothes and she was topless she turned around and instantly tried to cover her chest.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN HERE YOU CREEP!?" she screamed, chucking some random dictionary at the door.

Soul somehow dodged the incoming book and ran out of the room. He was in the bathroom getting some toilet paper to stop his current nosebleed. Maka finished putting on one of Soul's shirts (that moron never notices the missing clothes from his closet) and made her way out to the couch. Soul soon came out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuffed up his nose and his head tilted back slightly.

"What the hell Maka?!" His voice was a bit muffled due to the paper in his nasal passages.

"THAT'S WHY THERES A THING CALLED KNOCKING!" she yells back.

"I DIDN'T KNOW YOU WERE CHANGING YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT YOUR DOOR OPEN!"

"What did you want anyway, perv?" She says after she calms down but you could still hear the slight irritation in her voice.

"Are you gonna make dinner?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Good cause I'm starving."

After they ate dinner they took care of all their dishes and did some last minute chores and got ready for bed. Before retiring to their rooms, Soul nagged on Maka for sleeping all day, and that only resolved with a book wedged into Soul's head like an ax. After that episode, things died down (amazingly) and they said their good nights and went their separate ways for the night.

* * *

_ Maka was walking through the alley she was in earlier today. She was soon before the doors of the little side market and casually opened them, only to reveal some familiar figures. The meister started to walk past them but the two of them stopped in their tracks, and spun on their heels to glare at Maka in a creepy way. _

_"Why hello Maka, glad to see you." A female voice begun._

_"Who are you?" She asked._

_"You mean you don't remember? How sad. It's us, Chris and Chrome, the people from the alley earlier," said the male voice, who most likely was Chris._

_"Okay…so what do you want from me?"_

_"Revenge sweetie…" Chrome said and a oh-so-sweet voice._

_They started to walk forward and Maka's instincts kicked in and instantly started to back away. She was up against a wall, eyes wide from fright. Chris turned into a machete, landed in Chrome's hand, and raised him high._

_"Any last words?" Chrome asked. Maka kept her mouth shut, not knowing what to say. It seemed like the streets were abandoned and no one was around to help her. "No? Well, suit yourself." _

_She brought the machete down and sliced Maka's shoulder open deep. She cried out in pain and fell to the floor. Chrome walked up to her and lifted her head up off the ground by one of her pigtails, forcing her to look into her cold red eyes. Then the cat coldly laughed along with her partner, Chrome pined Maka against the wall and stabbed her right in the chest, penetrating her heart. _

_Tears streamed down Maka's face. She fell to the floor lifelessly. The last thing she saw before she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep was a smirk on the duo's faces._

* * *

Maka sat up strait in her bed breathing heavily again, and found herself in a cold sweat_. What's up with all these nightmares?_ She wiped some of the sweat off of her forehead and swung her legs over the side of the bed and got up to go to the bathroom. Peering in the mirror, she saw dark circles under her eyes, and tear stains. _Figures that I was crying in my sleep._ Sighing, she got some cold water on her hands and splashed it on her face.

While drying off her face, Maka heard some voices through the wall. At first she was alarmed, but then realized that it was the TV. _Why is Soul up so early? It's not like him to get up before me. Wait, did that moron pull another all-nighter?! Ooh, I'm gonna kill him when I get out there!_ Right before she left the bathroom, she noticed something in the mirror. Well, she didn't see it at first, but she could _feel _it peering at her.

Snapping her head around to face the mirror, there was a red, metallic figure creeping out of the bathtub. It had the eyes of the Kishin, and a mouth that somewhat resembled Asura's. Maka's irises shrank a bit, also revealing those pupils that are oh-so-hard-to-find. She was sweating a bit, and then turned around to the tub, only to reveal that there was nothing there. Maka inhaled and exhaled quickly, and then ran out of the bathroom, smacking into Soul who apparently was on his way to the bathroom himself.

"Augh, the hell…?" Soul mumbled, trying to regain his balance. He noticed Maka, hyperventilating on the floor with a really scared expression on her face. "Maka, is everything ok? You look like you saw a ghost."

"Might as well have…" She squeaked.

"What?"

After a moment, Maka calmed down a bit. She was still shaking from fear, but at least she wasn't hyperventilating anymore. The frightened girl slowly turned her head and looked into those crimson eyes. "Soul…" She jumped up and locked her arms around his necked and began quietly sobbing. Even in a situation like this, Soul's face was priceless, both filled with shock and worry, mouth hanging open slightly, and completed with a strip of light pink across the bridge of his nose.

"W-whoa there Maka," he stuttered, still shocked from the unsuspecting hug. "It'll be alright. Here, I'll carry you to the couch, go take leak, and come back. You can tell me what happened then, ok?" Soul felt her nod against his back. "Alright, here we go." He grabbed the inside of her knees, lifted her up, and carried her to the couch. After placing her down on the sofa, Maka hugged her knees to her chest and buried her face in them, and cried some more. Soul sighs and strolls back to the bathroom.

Back in the living room, Maka finally subsided her tears shortly after Soul closed the door. _What ever happened wasn't real, _she kept telling herself. _It wasn't real, it wasn't real, it wasn't real… _Those words seemed to calm her down. Maka lifted her head and looked through her tear stained eyes at the TV. Apparently Soul was watching some kind of anime, with a short, blonde boy with a metal arm and leg battling people with a living suit of armor. Like she cared though. Her head turned towards the clock, and it read 11:27. _Oh, I haven't slept all that long…well, I guess Soul lucked out this time. _

The sound of the door opening startled Maka, jumping off the couch and landing on the floor with a _THUMP! _

"Still a little jumpy, are you?" Soul held out his hand, offering to help her stand up. As soon as Maka grasps his hand, he yanks her into his chest and plops down on the couch. She was a bit shocked for that course of action, and started blushing for a moment. He clicked off the TV, and began talking. "So, what happened that made you cry for that short time?"

Maka looked back into his eyes, green meeting red. "Um," she began, "I was having a nightmare, though I don't remember what it was about…then I woke up and went to the bathroom to cool off…but before I left-" Just thinking about the red blob coming out of the tub made tears well up in her eyes again. Who knew something like that could be so frightening? "I-I saw a red thing coming out of the bathtub…it…it…" Maka had a hard time speaking through more sobs.

Soul wraps his arms around her reassuringly. "Stop talking. If it scares you that bad, then don't talk about it." He moved her head up to get her to face him, again, locking eyes together once again. Tears were streaming down her face, but even when she was crying, Soul couldn't help but think how cute she looked. Like a little puppy being put in a cage, wanting to be let back out. Maka laid her head back on his chest and let the tears flowing. She wasn't gasping for breath, but the tears kept coming.

He moved his hand to her hair and began stroking it. At first she tensed at the first few, but then her breathing slowed, and the tears stopped flowing, allowing him to stroke her some more. Her was like silk; extremely smooth on every stroke. After a couple of minutes, Soul figured she fell back asleep. He slowly shifted himself until he was leaning against the arm of the couch, with his meister's head on his chest. He could feel her inhale and exhale at a steady rhythm, and the heat of her body was warmer than any blanket he has used.

Soul took this rare opportunity to lean his head forward and lightly kiss her on the forehead. Then he put his elbow on the arm of the couch and laid his left cheek into the palm on his hand. Originally, he was just thinking about what just happened, but after a couple minutes, he drifted off onto sleep.


End file.
